Overall New Zealand Scholarship results 2021

Information on awards achieved and number of students per subject

See the tables below for information about the results for 2021 NZ Scholarship.

2021 New Zealand Scholarship monetary awards

Information about the awards and how many students achieved them.

Award 2021 requirements for the award Number of students
Premier Awards

$10,000 each year for three years (for the very top 7-12 students) as long as they maintain at least a "B" grade average in tertiary studies
A minimum of 3 Scholarships at Outstanding level.

Note: The number of recipients for this award is restricted and achieving the minimum requirement will not guarantee an award.
12
Outstanding Scholar Awards

$5,000 each year for 3 years for the top 40 to 60 students as long as they maintain at least a B grade average in tertiary studies
A minimum of 3 Scholarships with 2 at Outstanding level, or at least 4 Scholarships with 1 at Outstanding level and a top 2 performance in at least 1 subject.

Note: The number of recipients for this award is restricted and achieving the minimum requirement will not guarantee an award.
53
Top Subject Scholar Awards

$2,000 each year for 3 years as long as students maintain at least a B grade in tertiary studies
Top of Subject 33
Scholarship Award

$2,000 each year for 3 years as long as students maintain at least a B grade average in tertiary studies
Scholarship in 3 or more subjects or Outstanding Scholarship in 2 subjects, with no subject in the same year. 239
Single Subject Awards

A one-off award of $500 per subject, with a maximum payment is $1,000
1 or 2 Scholarships 1813
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In 2021 the 36 Top Subject Scholarship awards were achieved by 33 students. Of these students, 23 received Top Subject monetary awards and the other 10 received awards in other categories.

Students who receive a Top Subject Scholar Award and also achieve Scholarship in another subject, receive the Top Subject Award. They also receive a maximum of one $500 Single-Subject Award.

New Zealand Scholarship awards by subject

Information on the number of New Zealand Scholarship students for each subject and what they were awarded.

Scholarship subject Level 3 student cohort % of cohort awarded New Zealand Scholarship, including Outstanding % of cohort awarded New Zealand Scholarship, excluding Outstanding Number of students awarded Outstanding
Accounting 1975 2.78 48 7
Agriculture and Horticulture 618 3.07 17 2
Art History 719 2.92 19 2
Biology 10136 3.21 295 30
Calculus 9353 3 254 27
Chemistry 8701 2.33 176 27
Chinese 725 3.03 20 2
Classical Studies 3117 2.98 83 10
Dance 1063 0.94 7 3
Design 2408 3.2 70 7
Design and Visual Communication 1428 2.87 37 4
Drama 1876 2.99 50 6
Earth and Space Science 930 3.01 25 3
Economics 3101 2.23 63 6
English 16136 2.97 431 48
French 470 2.98 12 2
Geography 4365 3.02 117 15
German 148 2.7 3 1
Health and Physical Education 5191 2.43 112 14
History 6550 2.79 164 19
Japanese 514 2.92 13 2
Latin 42 9.52 3

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Media Studies 2495 2.77 62 7
Music 1705 3.05 46 6
Painting 3242 2.99 87 10
Photography 3109 2.99 84 9
Physics 8636 3.01 232 28
Printmaking 397 3.02 11 1
Religious Studies 3011 2.89 77 10
Samoan 312 3.21 9 1
Sculpture 185 3.24 5 1
Spanish 371 3.23 11 1
Statistics 9985 3.06 275 31
Technology 4100 1.8 64 10
Te Reo Māori 1056 3.03 29 3
Te Reo Rangatira 191 3.66 6 1
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The Technical Overview Group Assessment applies discretion in the setting of cut scores. The 3% criterion is applied with discretion of plus or minus 5 students.

Cut scores are set so all students at or above the cut score have demonstrated performance at the Scholarship standard.

High numbers of Scholarships in Latin

A significantly higher number of Level 3 students achieve New Zealand Scholarship in Latin, than in other subjects. This is because:

  • Latin has a very small number of students at Level 3. Therefore, there is a larger proportion of Level 3 students awarded Scholarship in Latin.
  • Up to 5 students on top of 3% of the Level 3 cohort can receive Scholarship in each subject. Because Latin is undertaken by a very small number of students, and a very small number at Level 3, a high percentage of Level 3 students receive awards.

New Zealand Scholarship cut scores

The cut scores table shows the range of New Zealand Scholarship scores and number of students for each subject.

Subject Score range

Scholarship
Number of students Score range

Outstanding
Number of students
Accounting 17 to 23 48 24 to 32 7
Agriculture and Horticulture 13 to 18 17 19 to 24 2
Art History 13 to 19 19 20 to 24 2
Biology 13 to 18 295 19 to 24 30
Calculus 21 to 33 254 34 to 40 27
Chemistry 17 to 24 176 25 to 32 27
Chinese 17 to 19 20 20 to 24 2
Classical Studies 14 to 19 83 20 to 24 10
Dance 13 to 19 7 20 to 24 3
Design 13 to 19 70 20 to 24 7
Design and Visual Communication 13 to 18 37 19 to 24 4
Drama 15 to 21 50 22 to 24 6
Earth and Space Science 13 to 18 25 19 to 24 3
Economics 13 to 17 63 18 to 24 6
English 13 to 20 431 21 to 24 48
French 13 to 21 12 22 to 24 2
Geography 13 to 18 117 19 to 24 15
German 18 to 22 3 23 to 24 1
Health and Physical Education 13 to 19 112 20 to 24 14
History 13 to 16 164 17 to 24 19
Japanese 18 to 22 13 23 to 24 2
Latin 27 to 31 3 32 to 32 1
Media Studies 14 to 18 62 19 to 24 7
Music 16 to 19 46 20 to 24 6
Painting 14 to 19 87 20 to 24 10
Photography 13 to 19 84 20 to 24 9
Physics 18 to 27 232 28 to 32 28
Printmaking 16 to 21 11 22 to 24 1
Religious Studies 13 to 19 77 20 to 24 10
Samoan 17 to 22 9 23 to 24 1
Sculpture 16 to 21 5 22 to 24 1
Spanish 15 to 20 11 21 to 24 1
Statistics 23 to 32 275 33 to 40 31
Technology 13 to 18 64 19 to 24 10
Te Reo Māori 19 to 21 29 22 to 24 3
Te Reo Rangatira 20 to 21 6 22 to 24 1
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